Up to Triple Crown Betting Trends

posted February 25, 2008 at 21:53 in Triple Crown Betting Trends

One of the most intriguing things that attracts horse bettors is the fact that there are really no rules. You have to go back to the days when you were in the crib with a pacifier that one can really feel so free to do whatever, make any kind of wager, string together as many horses or races you want to try to make money.

The best and brightest horseplayers today learn every single day. They may have started picking a color or a number or just happened to get lucky but after a fledgling horse bettor learns the fundamentals of the game, it’s like the floodgates are open.

I wish I had a quarter for every argument I heard in the Press Box about what happened during a recently run race. If you have 15 guys watching, you may have 12 different opinions as to who was right, who was wrong and who was best.

 

Of course, the bottom line in betting is just that, the bottom line and that means winning or losing.

Just as a guideline, new horse bettors should try to know what to expect from a Beyer figure in order to get a full maximum understanding of what to look for in a quality horse. Since these figures were incorporated into the Daily Racing Form years ago, they have become a stopping place for players but it is not just one stop shopping.

Typically, to use as a template, the best horses in the country will run Beyer figures from 114 or so upward. And here we are talking about the Curlins and Street Senses of the world.

Go to the opposite end of the spectrum and cheapsters at Penn National running for a $2500 claiming tag will be lucky if they hit a 60 Beyer.

In between you have the meat and potatoes of the game, the claimers and the allowance horses.

Those offered for sale from 10 grand to 25 grand will generally fall into a Beyer category between 80 and 90 and allowance runners will take that next step to the triple digit level.

As all sports fans know, it can be tedious yet fun to compare stars and champions from years past. How would Joe Montana stack up vs. say Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?

How would Jerry West and Kobe Bryant deal with each other’s killer instinct? Or how would Gordie Howe, the Great Gretzy and Sidney Crosby battle for top honors in the NHL?

Just to try to set the record straight as to greatness in this sport, horse racing bettors should be able to quantify a tremendous race or performer.

Cigar, who won 16 straight races, never recorded a Beyer higher than 121. Formal Gold, who beat the great Skip Away a number of times, posted figures as high as 126 and the fastest sprinter in the early 1990s, Artax, could pop with a 123 Beyer seemingly at will.

Granted, these numbers are just that numbers, but they go to point out speed, quality and class of horses and to really put things in perspective, considered what the great Secretariat would have posted when he won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths.

Andy Beyer didn’t have the figures refined when Big Red pulled off that feat but he guesstimates the figure would have been 139, the best race ever run.

For horse bettors, just like in life, it’s about balance. Use the Beyer, use current form, use the connections, but know that in the end there are no rules and sometimes the horse bettor that thinks outside the box takes away the most money at the end of the day.

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